Missouri Class 1 track and field championships notebook: Hayti and Hermitage share boys title; East Atchison wins girls crown

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Ties and close calls were the norm for the MSHSAA Class 1 & 2 Track and Field Championships this weekend in Jefferson City.

In Class 1, for the first time in the history of the classification, there was a tie atop the podium for the state championship. There had only been two ties for titles since 1927 and there ended up being two on Saturday.

Charleston and Summit Christian Academy tied for the Class 2 boys title and, in Class 1, Hermitage and Hayti each finished with 42 points to share the title.

This was the first state championship in track and field for Hermitage — winners of the past two cross country stories.

Hayti won the Class 2A title in 1988.

How they got to the 42 points was a little different, but it all came down to the 4x400-meter race.

Each had a team in the event and Hayti held a 36-34 lead in the standings.

Hermitage finished in 3:34.09 — .22 of a second faster than Hayti to make it a second- and third-place finish.

The finish by Justus Yates helped the Hornets move into a tie for first place. DeJuan Chambers, Gabriel Montjeo and Justin Horn ran before him for Hermitage.

“It was a crazy, it came down to the wire. We put on a show for everybody here, especially the 4x4 that came down to the final race … but finishing that after running the two-mile is a killer,” said Horn, a State Fair Community College signee. “It is my senior year. I had to leave everything on the track. I couldn’t give up."

Horn finished third in the 3,200-meter run.

Hermitage and Hayti each earned points in seven events.

Hayti’s 4x400 relay featured Ricky Bryant, Jeremy Alexander, Keion Hamilton and Quintile Clay to earn the final six points that was enough to get maintain a tie.

The Indians won the 4x100 and 4x200 relays — accounting for nearly half of the team’s 42 points.

The 4x100-meter relay set a new state record with a time of 43.02 — besting the mark of Eskridge of 44.11 from 2001.

Jordan Payne, Alexander, Clay and Elijah Burnett comprised Hayti’s team.

The same group ran the 4x200 and finished in 1:30.86.

East Atchison, a co-op with Tarkio and Fairfax, won the Class 1 girls title with 70 points. It is the first title for the northwest Missouri program, which took third in 2021 and was fourth last year.

The 4x400-meter relay win broke a tie of 60 points each with Drexel — but only East Atchison was in the final race.

The Wolves won the 4x200 and 4x400-meter relays, while the high jump and 800-meter run were earned 10 points.

Faith Anderson won the high jump on Friday and the other three titles came on Saturday. Tommi Martin won the 800.

She was then on the 4x200 team with Anderson, Grace Oswald and Elizabeth Schlueter.

Oswald, Anderson, Schlueter and Natalie Hedlund won the 4x100-meter relay.

Drexel had 60 points for the Bobcats, earning at least six points in eight different events.

Emily Wheeler won the 100-meter hurdles and third in the triple jump, while Olivia Shipps was third in the shot put and discus. Drexel was also the runner-up in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays.

Josie Parks, Gracie Marks and Gracie Francis were on both of those relay teams, while Wheeler (4x200) and Izzy Richardson (4x100) were the other runners.

• Freshman Mya Wray won 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs for Platte Valley.

• Missouri signee Jennifer Hinkle won the javelin title for Knox County — the first state champ from her school since 2012.

• Richland’s Breah Morris won the 100-, 200-meter dashes and the long jump for 30 points. That was only four back of earning a trophy. 

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